


Coffee Boy

by yubat (mintea)



Category: Infinite (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 20:31:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2039109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintea/pseuds/yubat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sungyeol might have a crush on one of their regular customers. He also might have the worst coworkers in the world. Honestly, only the second part is up for debate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee Boy

**Author's Note:**

> [originally posted at infinitememe](http://infinitememe.livejournal.com/1642.html?thread=134762#t134762) for the prompt "coffee shop!au where barista/waiter sungyeol is head over heels for sungjong please <3" basically i think i just like coffee shop aus too much for my own good ;w;
> 
>  
> 
> [suggested listening (◠‿◠✿)](http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Coffee+Boy/86905783)  
> 

Sungyeol hums to himself as he wipes down the counter by the espresso machine, enjoying the temporary emptiness of the coffee shop. It’s 4:30 pm, and the shop is in the middle of the late afternoon lull. Sungyeol’s coworker Woohyun had gotten off half an hour earlier, and there’s still an hour left until Dongwoo comes in to help with the evening rush. Sungyeol luxuriates in the short time alone, using the opportunity to finish cleaning up from the afternoon post-classes rush.

Sungyeol finishes with the counter and is about to go grab some more milk from the back to restock the fridge when the wind chimes attached to the door jingle. Sungyeol turns back around to greet the customer, a cheerful hello on the tip of his tongue, but the words die in his throat. There is a boy maybe a few years younger than Sungyeol staring around the shop curiously, taking in the mismatched armchairs and walls covered in sticky notes mixed with flyers for local events. His hair is a little long, mostly hidden under a hat, and he’s wearing an oversized sweater to ward off the early-spring chill. He turns towards Sungyeol, finally revealing his face, and, wow, Sungyeol thinks, he’s kind of gorgeous. He smiles slightly and walks towards the counter, and Sungyeol quickly clears his throat and does his best to school his face into his customer service expression.

“Hi there,” Sungyeol says with the brightest smile he can muster. “I’m just going to get something out of the back, but take a look at the menu and I’ll be back in like two seconds.”

“Okay,” the boy says with another smile and okay, this is totally unfair, because he has a really nice voice too. Sungyeol takes a few seconds more than strictly necessary in the back, shoving his face into the fridge to help fight off the blush he can feel creeping up the back of his neck. When he comes back out the boy is staring intently at the chalkboard menu on the wall behind the espresso machine. Sungyeol quickly tucks away the milk jugs into the mini fridge under the counter and straightens with another smile.

“Are you ready to order?”

“Yeah,” the boy says with another easy smile. “I’d like an iced latte, please.”

“Sure thing,” Sungyeol replies, punching the order into the cash register computer. “That’ll be 4,500 won. Do you want it for here or to go?”

“For here,” the boy says as he pulls out his wallet and starts fishing around for the correct change. Sungyeol gets the drink started while he waits, grabbing one of the tall glasses waiting next to the sink and filling it with ice. When the customer finishes finding his change, Sungyeol turns back to the counter and puts it into the register with another customer service smile.

“All right, go ahead and take a seat anywhere and I’ll bring this out to you as soon as I’m done making it.”

The boy nods and says thank you, then heads off to the armchair in the corner by the front window. Sungyeol silently approves – that’s his favorite seat.

As he makes the drink, Sungyeol watches the boy out of the corner of his eye. The other slings his backpack onto the chair across from him and proceeds to pull out a massive textbook, a notebook, and a calculator. Just as he’s starting to settle in, leaning over the table as he skims through the book to find the page he wants, Sungyeol finishes up the drink. He takes extra care to make it look as nice as possible, and is suddenly extremely grateful that he’s the only one working right now. His coworkers would have enjoyed making fun of him for spending extra time on a drink for a cute boy.

Sungyeol slides out from behind the counter and heads over to where the boy is sitting, carefully maneuvering so that he doesn’t spill the drink. “Here you go, one iced caffe latte,” he says with an overdramatic flourish as he places the drink on the table. The boy laughs, bringing one hand up to cover his mouth as his eyes crinkle slightly.

“Thanks,” he says, still laughing, and reaches forward to grab the drink.

Sungyeol definitely doesn’t accidentally bump into the counter on his way back, and he most certainly doesn’t blush uncontrollably when he looks back over towards the window and sees the boy watching him and grinning into his drink.

\--

“Hi welcome to – oh, it’s you again! Hey, welcome back.”

The words slip out before he can stop them, and Sungyeol immediately wishes he coul take it back when he sees the surprised and slightly perplexed look on incredibly-cute-customer’s face. It’s been a week since the first time the boy had come in, and it’s a little bit busier today. Sungyeol and Woohyun have been kept bustling for the past hour or so.

“You remember me?” the boy asks, disbelieving, as he reaches into his satchel to get out his wallet. He’s wearing another oversized sweater today, this time gray with red stripes, but this time he doesn’t have a hat. Sungyeol thinks he looks better without the hat anyway. “You must get, like, hundreds of customers a day. How did you even remember me?”

“Not quite hundreds,” Sungyeol says with what he hopes is a nonchalant shrug. “And I just have a good memory.”

“False,” Woohyun declares from where he’s making a mocha at the counter to Sungyeol’s right. “Your memory sucks. Just an hour ago you left the sink in the back running and I just barely saved us from getting flooded.”

Without even turning around to look, Sungyeol reaches out and punches Woohyun in the shoulder. He then ignores Woohyun’s protest and smiles brightly.

“Please excuse my obnoxious coworker. What can I get for you today?”

The boy is laughing, one hand covering his mouth again, and Sungyeol wishes that he could see him let go and laugh without his hand in the way.

“I’ll have a vanilla frappuccino. To go, please,” the boy says. Sungyeol nods and punches it into the system. After paying the boy goes to stand over by the small bookshelf sitting against the far wall, browsing the titles while he waits for his drink. When Sungyeol turns around to start on the drink, Woohyun is staring at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Don’t say it,” Sungyeol says, resigned, before Woohyun can even open his mouth. “I know.”

\--

Incredibly-cute-customer comes in again the next Thursday, around 6pm. It’s raining, and business is fairly slow, with only the occasional customer coming in. Sungyeol calls out a greeting as soon as the boy comes through the door, and moves over to the cash register before his coworker Dongwoo has the chance to. Dongwoo watches with poorly hidden interest as Sungyeol takes incredibly-cute-customer’s order and promises to bring it out as soon as it’s ready.

“Is that the guy Woohyun said you were crushing on?” Dongwoo asks as soon as the boy – today he’s wearing a cardigan matched with skinny jeans and boots and Sungyeol really doesn’t know how much more his heart can handle – wanders over to the table by the window again and starts to pull out his homework.

Sungyeol groans, resisting the urge to bang his head into the nearest wall.

“Woohyun told everyone, didn’t he?” Sungyeol asks, and cringes when Dongwoo nods cheerfully. “Even Jiae?” Another nod. “Shit, I’m so screwed. She’s never going to let me live this down.”

Dongwoo just laughs and grabs the finished drink, taking it over to the table by the window before Sungyeol has the chance. Sungyeol tries not to sulk as he watches Dongwoo hand the drink over with one of his irresistible smiles. Apparently Sungyeol isn’t doing a very good job of the not sulking thing, though, because about five minutes after returning from delivering the drink Dongwoo tosses a rag at Sungyeol and tells him to go wipe down the tables. Pretending not to see Dongwoo’s knowing smile, Sungyeol grabs the rag and heads out to the seating area.

He starts close to the counter, and works his way over towards the window. Incredibly-cute-customer is absorbed in his work, tapping the end of his pencil against his bottom lip, and barely even glances up as Sungyeol starts wiping down the table next to his. Sungyeol takes a deep breath, mustering his courage.

“How’s your drink?” Sungyeol finally manages to ask. His voice doesn’t even crack, which he takes as a small victory.

The boy jumps slightly, dropping his pen and jerking his head up to look at Sungyeol. He scrambles for his pencil, but Sungyeol is faster, reaching over to pick it up from where it’s sitting on the floor.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” Sungyeol says as he grabs the pencil straightens up to hand it back. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Sorry for bothering you.”

“Oh no, it’s fine,” the boy says, taking his pencil from Sungyeol. “This stuff’s kind of boring anyways.”

“What are you studying?” Sungyeol asks, leaning over to get a closer look. There’s a notebook on the table next to a textbook, and both are filled with diagrams of hexagons with strings of chemical names that make Sungyeol’s blood run cold with bad memories of high school chemistry class.

“Organic chem at the moment,” the boy says with a shrug. “Just basic routine prerequisite stuff for now, but I’m aiming to eventually go into pathology.”

“Wow,” Sungyeol says, and he means it. He rocks back on his heels to give the boy an impressed look. “That’s so cool.”

The boy shrugs again, shuffling his papers without looking up at Sungyeol.

“It’s nothing special, really,” he says. He frowns at his drink before glancing back to Sungyeol. “How about you, you’re a student too, right?”

Sungyeol nods and picks up his rag from where he’d dropped it on the table. He goes back to cleaning, absentmindedly wiping at the table he’d been working on before starting the conversation.

“Yeah, I’m majoring in business. I should probably be joining a million clubs and networking and stuff since I’m already in my final year, but honestly I prefer just working here.” Sungyeol pauses for a second, scrubbing at a particularly sticky spot with more force than probably necessary. He manages to get the spot off, and looks up to meet the other boy’s curious look. “I’m actually kind of hoping to open my own coffee shop someday.”

Sungyeol feels a bit stupid saying it – his parents certainly think it’s stupid, that’s for sure – but the boy just smiles slightly.

“That sounds nice. I think you would do a good job if you did open one.”

Sungyeol grins and tries to ignore the blush that he can feel spreading across his face.

“Thanks,” he says, still smiling, and extends a hand. “I’m Lee Sungyeol, by the way.”

“Yeah,” the boy says, giving the nametag pinned to Sungyeol’s apron a pointed look, “I figured as much.” Sungyeol knows for sure that he’s blushing now, but the boy just smiles and takes Sungyeol’s hand. “I’m Lee Sungjong. Nice to meet you.”

Sungyeol opens his mouth to say something more, but just then the door jangles open and a group of high school girls tumbles through, their umbrellas shedding water all over the floor.

“Looks like I actually have to go work now,” Sungyeol says ruefully, stuffing his rag into an apron pocket. “Good luck with your studying.”

“Thanks,” Sungjong says with another smile. “It was nice talking to you.”

For the rest of his shift Dongwoo keeps lightly poking fun at him, but Sungyeol is too busy thinking that Sungjong is a really nice name to actually care.

\--

Sungjong starts to come in about once a week, usually ordering something and then sitting to do school work for an hour or two before leaving with a cheerful wave. Sungyeol supposes he might come in more often, on days that Sungyeol isn’t working, but Sungyeol doesn’t ask his coworkers. They don’t need yet another reason to tease him.

Sungjong tends to come on Thursdays, during the middle of Sungyeol’s shift, but on one sunny day in late April he comes in right after Sungyeol clocks in. Sungyeol blinks in surprise as he looks up from signing into the computer system and spots Sungjong coming in the door.

“Oh, Sungjong-ssi!” Sungyeol calls out and Sungjong waves as he approaches the counter. “You’re here early today,” Sungyeol says, and then winces because keeping track of when a customer comes in could probably come across a little creepy.

Sungjong just smiles though, slinging his backpack off of his shoulders to get his wallet out. He looks a little more tired than usual, but he’s impeccably dressed as always in a blazer and a scoop neck t-shirt. He sets his wallet on the counter and uses one hand to brush his hair out of his eyes. Sungyeol thinks it’s unfair that anyone can look so good even in the middle of midterms season.

“Yeah, I’m heading off to a review session,” Sungjong says, scrunching his face slightly in displeasure. “Can I get an iced americano to go, please?”

“Sure, that’ll be 4,300 won,” Sungyeol says as he punches the order in. “Studying for midterms?” Sungjong nods, pulling out his credit card and handing it to Sungyeol.

“The test is on Monday, and the class isn’t hard but I have to memorize a bunch of crap. It’s so annoying.”

Sungyeol hums in agreement, handing Sungjong back his card along with a pen and the receipt. While Sungjong signs, Sungyeol tamps the espresso and fits it into place. But he pushes the button to start the machine – and nothing happens.

“Shit,” Sungyeol mutters and leans over to check that it hadn’t come unplugged. “Stupid machine you were working fine two seconds ago.” He tries pushing some more buttons, but all the machine does is whirr at him angrily.

“Is everything ok?” Sungjong asks, leaning over the counter slightly to get a better look at what Sungyeol is doing.

“The espresso machine is staging a rebellion, hold on a sec,” Sungyeol says. Then he turns towards the backroom and yells, “Yah, Nam Woohyun! Get your ass out here and fix the espresso machine.”

“What did you break this time, you overly tall sack of bones?” Woohyun shoots back as he comes out from the back, putting the clipboard and list he’d been using to check off inventory on the counter.

“Overly tall _sexy_ sack of bones, thank you all the same,” Sungyeol huffs, and points an accusatory figure at the espresso machine. “The machine stopped working for no reason.”

“Did it come unplugged again?” Woohyun asks. He flips a few switches, frowning when nothing happens.

“No, that was the first thing that I checked. I do have some common sense, you know.”

“That’s debatable,” Woohyun says absentmindedly as he leans down to check something under the counter.

“Yah!” Sungyeol protests, then turns to Sungjong with a pout. “See what I have to put up with? Abuse!”

Sungjong is laughing his hidden laugh again; one hand covering his mouth as he quickly tries to stop his laughter.

“Well,” Sungjong says between laughs, “to be fair you were technically the one who started it.”

Sungyeol opens and shuts his mouth in disbelief and somewhere behind him Woohyun snorts.

“Hey, you’re supposed to take my side,” Sungyeol finally says, eyes still wide with pretend-hurt. “Is that any way to treat your hyung?”

“But I’m your hyung and you abuse me all the time,” Woohyun pipes up. He’s crouched on the floor, reaching under the counter to mess with some wiring. Sungyeol shoves him over.

“Shut up, you’re only like six months older. That doesn’t count as being my hyung, ok.”

Woohyun reaches up to smack Sungyeol’s butt in retaliation, and Sungyeol glares at him indignantly. Sungjong is nearly doubled over with laughter by now, and Sungyeol switches his gaze to Sungjong instead.

“Hey, watch it. I’m still the one making your drink, Sungjong-ssi,” Sungyeol says, fixing Sungjong with what he hopes is a firm look.

“All right, I got it _hyung_ ,” Sungjong replies with mock sincerity, temporarily calming his laughter.

“You both suck,” Sungyeol declares, but by now he’s fighting back a smile because it’s really nice to see Sungjong laughing so much. When Sungjong laughs, his usually elegant demeanor changes to something more relaxed and playful, and honestly Sungyeol just wants to make him laugh for hours.

Eventually Woohyun manages to fix the espresso machine, and Sungyeol is finally able to make Sungjong’s drink. He hands Sungjong the cup and wishes him luck with his studying, and Sungjong leaves with a cheerful ‘ _bye, hyung_ ’ looking much happier than he had when he’d first walked in.

As soon as Sungjong is out the door, Woohyun throws an arm around Sungyeol’s shoulder, ignoring the height difference, and leans in close.

“Bye, Sungjong-ssi,” Woohyun says in a teasing voice, right next to Sungyeol’s ear. “Have a nice day, Sungjong-ssi. Good luck with your studying, Sungjong-ssi. I want into your pants, Sungjong-ssi.”

Sungyeol elbows him in the stomach.

\--

The next time Sungjong comes in, the store is so busy that Sungyeol doesn’t even notice Sungjong is there until he has finished making the drink and called out the order. Sungjong collects the drink with a smile that Sungyeol barely has time to tiredly return before moving on to the next drink.

Sungjong takes the drink to his table by the window and works on schoolwork for almost an hour. The entire time Sungyeol is kept so busy that he barely even has time to catch his breath, much less go talk to Sungjong. When Sungjong leaves, he calls out a goodbye and waves when Sungyeol looks over in his direction.

Sungyeol is working with Dongwoo today, and when there’s a slight break Dongwoo goes out to collect dishes and wipe down the tables while Sungyeol gets to work cleaning up the chaos behind the counter. When Dongwoo returns, he props his stack of plates and cups onto his hip to free a hand and pass a slip of paper to Sungyeol.

“Our favorite customer left you a note,” Dongwoo says in response to Sungyeol’s questioning look. Sungyeol quickly dries his hands on his apron and takes the paper from Dongwoo. It’s a sticky note, light blue with a darker border, and there’s a message written on it in pen. ‘ _Sungyeol hyung fighting!!_ >‿<’ it reads in neat handwriting.

While Sungyeol is staring at the note and trying to calm his flip-flopping stomach, Dongwoo loads the dishes into the dishwasher and starts it running. When he comes back out to the front, Sungyeol glances up from the note and gives Dongwoo a pathetic look.

“Help,” he says desperately. Dongwoo just laughs and pats his shoulder in sympathy.

\--

Sungyeol looks up from the change he’s counting back change to a girl in a high school uniform when he hears the bell on the door ring. Sungjong comes through, followed closely by a guy Sungyeol has never seen before. They’re talking as the walk over to the counter, but Sungjong returns Sungyeol’s smile of greeting. He’s not quite as enthusiastic as normal, though, and that should have been Sungyeol’s first warning.

After the girl moves to the side to wait for Sungyeol’s coworker – Dongwoo was sick, so Sungyeol was working with Myungsoo today – to finish making her drink, Sungjong and his friend step up to the counter.

“Hi, Sungjong-ssi,” Sungyeol says cheerfully, trying and failing to hide the curious look he’s giving Sungjong’s friend. “What can I get for you today?”

“Oh,” Sungjong’s friend suddenly says, turning towards Sungjong. “Is this the hot barista you keep talking about?” Sungjong immediately flushes red and elbows his friend in the stomach. To his credit, the guy doesn’t even flinch.

“Hot?” Sungyeol repeats slowly, raising an eyebrow at Sungjong. He’s honestly surprised that he manages to keep his composure at all, since inside his head all he’s thinking is _hot – Sungjong thinks I’m hot – Sungjong thinks – oh my God._

“I’ll have an iced latte,” Sungjong says instead of replying, staring firmly ahead and ignoring his friend.

“Ok, are you paying together or separately?” Sungyeol asks, glancing over to the other guy.

“Together,” Sungjong’s friend cuts in before Sungjong can say anything. “I’ll have an americano.” He leans across the counter, extending a hand. “I’m Hoya, by the way. I’m Sungjong’s senior.”

Sungyeol takes the offered hand, and suppresses the shiver that runs down his back. Hoya’s grip is tight, almost painful, and Sungyeol suddenly can’t help but notice the way Hoya’s obviously well muscled arms show against his button up shirt. Sungyeol may be taller, but he knows that Hoya could take him down in a second. Hoya obviously knows it as well, his eyebrows rising just a fraction.

“I’m Sungyeol, it’s nice to meet you,” Sungyeol says. With one final squeeze, Hoya releases his grip. Sungyeol resists the urge to shake his hand. Sungjong looks like he wants to die on the spot. “Would you like your drinks for here or to go?” Considering the circumstances, Sungyeol thinks he does a good job of staying calm.

“To go,” Sungjong says, right as Hoya says, “For here.” A short staring contest ensues, in which Sungjong looks positively deadly and Hoya looks completely unfazed.

“You said that you wanted help with biology,” Hoya finally says after a couple of seconds. “We might as well study here. The library will be too crowded anyway.”

Another short staring battle happens, but in the end Sungjong just huffs and Hoya pulls out his wallet to pay. They move off to find a table, Sungjong turning back to mouth a ‘sorry’ to Sungyeol as he goes. As soon as they sit down, Sungyeol drapes himself over Myungsoo, who had silently watched the entire exchange with a blank, confused expression.

“Soo help me, I think Sungjong’s friend wants to kill me,” Sungyeol quietly wails, trying to cling on as Myungsoo shoves him off. “You’re in accounting, tell me how to get life insurance.”

“Those two things are not necessarily related at all,” Myungsoo says, finishing the drinks without even looking in Sungyeol’s direction. He’s far too calm, in Sungyeol’s opinion, considering that his coworker and friend is probably about to die an extremely painful death. Myungsoo turns and shoves the finished drinks at Sungyeol. “Here, stop being a baby and take them their drinks.”

Sungyeol gives Myungsoo one last pained look, but takes the drinks and heads for the table Sungjong and Hoya have chosen. They’ve spread out a terrifyingly large textbook and some papers across the table, and have their heads bent together while they look at some sort of chart.

“Coffee’s here,” Sungyeol says as he approaches, putting his best customer service smile in place. Sungjong glances up at him and smiles warmly, making Sungyeol’s stomach flop. However, the effect is quickly ruined as Hoya looks up, giving Sungyeol a blatant once over now that he’s out from behind the counter. The expression on his face makes it obvious that he isn’t particularly impressed by what he sees.

“Thanks, hyung,” Sungjong says as he takes his drink. Hoya says nothing, but his expression clearly says ‘ _I’m watching you._ ’ Sungyeol gulps.

Sungyeol returns to the counter and settles in for the hour left until his shift ends. They’re relentlessly busy – a continuing trend from earlier in the day – and by the end of the hour all Sungyeol really wants to do is grab some dinner and curl up in bed.

When Sungyeol clocks out and grabs his bag from the back room, he glances over to the table Sungjong and Hoya occupied. They’re still hunched over their papers, the textbook shoved off to the side to make more room for notebooks. Sungjong has the end of his pen pressed against his lips, watching as Hoya draws something out on one of the papers. Sungyeol doesn’t want to disturb them, so he leaves without saying goodbye to Sungjong. He doesn’t think they’ve even noticed his departure, but as soon as the door closes behind him he hears the bells jangle as it’s pulled open again.

“Sungyeol-ssi?”

It’s Hoya’s voice, and for a second Sungyeol seriously debates running for his life. Instead he takes a deep breath and turns around. Hoya is standing awkwardly beside the door, hands tucked into his pockets. He rocks back onto his heels when Sungyeol turns to face him.

“Sungjong said that I owe you an apology,” Hoya says, his face breaking into a small smile for the first time. “Apparently I need to say sorry for being a rude asshole.” The way he intones the last two words makes it clear that they’re a direct quote from Sungjong. Instead of seeming offended or annoyed, though, Hoya just shakes his head fondly.

“I- thank you?” Sungyeol says. He feels like he’s been spun around and then dropped on his head. Suddenly the terrifying guy from earlier seems a lot more human, and honestly Sungyeol is just really disoriented. “For apologizing, I mean. I appreciate it.”

“I just worry about Sungjong a lot,” Hoya says, pulling one had from his pocket to rub at the back of his neck. “When I first met him, he was –” he pauses, frowning, carefully considering his next words. “He was in a really bad place, emotionally. He’s a really great kid, and I just don’t want him to get hurt again.”

Sungyeol nods slowly, letting everything sink in. “Well,” he says after a pause. “I’m not really sure how much I can guarantee, but I can say for certain that I would never hurt Sungjong intentionally.”

Hoya exhales, running his free hand through his hair. “Yeah, I figured but still.” He looks up, locking eyes with Sungyeol. “If you fuck up, I will fuck _you_ up.” There’s no hint of his earlier smile left now, and his stare is deadly serious. Sungyeol suppresses another shiver. “It was nice meeting you, Sungyeol-ssi.”

Then Hoya is gone, disappeared back into the shop, and Sungyeol is left standing alone in the street feeling very confused as he replays the conversation back through his mind. As soon as he forces his body back into motion he pulls out his phone and sends Myungsoo a message that simply says, “LIFE INSURANCE!!!!” The conversation with Hoya, he decides, is something that he’ll think about more deeply when he isn’t about to fall asleep on his feet.

\--

Sungyeol likes to go sit with Sungjong during lulls in business. He’ll flop down in the chair across from Sungjong and proceed to talk about anything and everything – whining about school or picky customers – while Sungjong halfheartedly continues his work and laughs at Sungyeol’s ridiculous stories. If the break is particularly long, Sungjong will start talking too, and slowly Sungyeol learns about Sungjong’s mother and younger brother in Gwangju, his eccentric chemistry teacher, and his hate for everything lemon flavored.

By the time finals roll around, Sungyeol is pretty sure he’s head over heels for Sungjong, and thinks it isn’t too horribly farfetched to say that Sungjong might possibly like him as well. Hoya’s talk had more or less confirmed as much, but Sungyeol wasn’t quite sure if Hoya’s concern was just a case of an overreacting friend or not, so he had held off instead of acting.

(At least that’s what he tells himself. The voice inside his head suggests that maybe he’s just a coward and scared of being rejected.)

So Sungyeol and Sungjong talk and flirt and Sungyeol’s coworkers tease him and Woohyun throws towels at him and tells him to just ask Sungjong out already. Sungyeol complains about harassment and dodges the towels and manages to stall until almost the end of final exams period.

\--

“So then I was like ‘are you serious, Sunggyu hyung is going to be furious,’ but Woohyun went ahead and switched around all of the labels on the stock checklist anyway and oh my God the look on Sunggyu’s face when he saw it was priceless.”

Sungyeol is sprawled across the empty chair at Sungjong’s table, and Sungjong’s organic chemistry notes are temporarily abandoned as Sungjong doubles over in laughter. He had looked particularly tired today, the shadows under his eyes so dark that Sungyeol had been alarmed, asking him if he was all right. Sungjong had nodded and smiled, but Sungyeol had brought him a free refill for his coffee anyway.

“So what did your manager do?” Sungjong asks, gasping for breath. These days he doesn’t cover his mouth anymore when he laughs around Sungyeol, and it makes Sungyeol unreasonably happy.

“Well, Sunggyu hyung pulled out his phone and –“

Just then the door opens and a group of people pour through. Sungyeol pauses his story and glances towards the counter, where Dongwoo has abandoned the dishes he was rinsing in the sink to come to the cash register. Dongwoo can probably handle the rush on his own, but technically Sungyeol is still on the clock so he lets out a sigh and stands up.

“Sorry, I have to go actually work now,” he says regretfully, and Sungjong waves him off.

“Sure, no problem. Go do your job.” He’s smiling still, and suddenly Sungyeol’s heart is in his throat.

“I always have to leave in the middle of our conversations, it sucks.”

“Well, maybe that wouldn’t happen if we didn’t only ever talk while you’re working,” Sungjong points out. He reaches down to pull something out of his backpack, but Sungyeol reads the implication loud and clear.

“Would you –” Sungyeol swallows nervously and fists his hands tightly into his apron. “I get off in twenty minutes do you want to go, um, get dinner together?” He says it all in a rush, blood thundering in his ears, but the smile Sungjong gives him when he looks up from his backpack makes it all worth it.

“I’d love to.”

\--

One day in the beginning of October Sungyeol sighs, tapping boredly at the cash register screen. He has one semester left until graduation, and his parents have been pressuring him to quit the coffee shop in order to look for a “real job,” but he’s been digging his feet in for as long as possible. Outside the leaves are all changing color, and the air has a sharp bite to it. On this day it’s raining, and business is slow.

Even though class schedules have changed, somehow Sungyeol is still stuck working with Woohyun. This a point that both he and Woohyun whine about constantly to any of their coworkers who will listen – which, to be fair, at this point is no one except for the newest hires. With all the other changes going on, though, Sungyeol secretly thinks it’s kind of nice to have at least one thing stay the same. Not that he’d ever tell Woohyun that.

The door opens and Sungyeol straightens up, excited to actually have something to do. He brightens up even more, however, when he sees who has just come in.

“One caramel macchiato please,” Sungjong says as he approaches the counter, pulling off his gloves. There’s a thick scarf around his neck and he’s wearing a puffy jacket, and frankly Sungyeol thinks he looks completely adorable.

“You’re actually just dating me for the free coffee, aren’t you,” Sungyeol jokes as he punches the drink into the system and codes it for an employee discount. He’s not even remotely serious, but Sungjong rolls his eyes and leans forward across the counter to grab the collar of Sungyeol’s work shirt.

“What –” Sungyeol manages to say before Sungjong pulls him down into a kiss. Woohyun catcalls from across the café, where he’s sitting to take his lunch break.

Sungjong breaks off the kiss and leans back, letting go of Sungyeol’s collar and huffing impatiently as Sungyeol blinks dazedly back at him.

“No, I’m dating you because you’re an incredibly sweet and handsome guy who always knows how to make me laugh.” Sungjong brushes the hair out of his eyes with one hand, staring at Sungyeol defiantly as if daring him to argue. Sungyeol opens his mouth to say something, but the words die in his throat so he leans forward and kisses Sungjong again instead.

“I love you,” he says into the kiss, and Sungjong smiles.

“Get a room!” Woohyun yells. Sungyeol flips him off.


End file.
